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One of the core elements to Mosaic’s success is our team. Read on about how Senior Financial Planner Steve Branton, ADPA, CFP® shapes his focus based on passion and experience.

What do you most love about the work you do?

My favorite part of my job is the clarity our team brings to clients.

When clients feel their worries have been addressed, they begin to allow themselves to dream about their future and actively begin to move toward creating the life they have always wanted.

Whether that involves a career change, going back to school, taking time off, retirement, travel, or time with family, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to be part of such positive change. I think our clients worry about what they don’t know. When we planners focus on a client’s specific worries, we have a pretty good chance of moving them closer to the more creative aspects of financial life planning.

That shift into momentum is definitely where the fun is!

What is your “why”?

I’ve always been drawn to numbers and to “helping” professions. Early on, I saw many examples of the stress that financial decisions left on members of my family.

When I was growing up, I wanted to get involved in a profession that helps people develop personal clarity, decision-making skills, and plans to better their lives, via a financial perspective.

What’s your ideal retirement?

I can’t imagine really retiring—at least not yet. But I do have a major travel bug. One of the things I’ve worked on doing is creating space and time for me and my spouse to take a ‘longer’ trip every six years as a sort of a mini-sabbatical. Next stop is Patagonia in 2018.

I think a lot of us in the industry are questioning the traditional view that a person retires and “that’s that.” Instead, we are looking it as a next stage of life with a new set of options.

Planners consider when clients can obtain financial independence and be at choice with how much they work and for how long. The ability of our clients to incorporate more travel or time off into their lives now, not just later, is a favorite discussion of mine.

It’s been very exciting to watch clients take the plunge and do just that!

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